Ice Hockey

Dello Continues Support For Sammy's SuperheroesA friendship formed during junior hockey years in Nebraska extends to Notre Dame

Feb. 13, 2017

By Dan Colleran

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Tory Dello is in the midst of his freshman season with the 15th-ranked Fighting Irish. He logs heavy minutes on the Irish blue line and has chipped in with a goal and seven assists.

Prior to joining the Irish, Dello played three seasons of junior hockey in Kearney, Nebraska with the Tri-City Storm (USHL) from 2013-16.

Dello served as Tri-City’s captain during the 2015-16 season and led the team to its first ever Clark Cup Championship. He was also selected as the USHL’s 2016 Curt Hammer Award winner, which is presented annually to recognize the player who distinguishes himself both on and off the ice.

One area where Dello distinguished himself off the ice was in the community, especially as it relates to the Sammy's Superheroes foundation. Sammy’s Superheroes raises awareness for all childhood cancers and helps fund life-saving research.

“Sammy has become very important to me. He’s a young boy who was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma in 2012. I met him last year at an event with Tri-City. We then held a Sammy's Superheroes night at one of our games and he and five other children diagnosed with cancer were able to come out and spend the day with the Storm players.

I was fortunate to have Sammy walk out of the ice with me as starting lineups were announced. To this day, I’ve remained close with Sammy and his family and I constantly check up on him and try to make sure he is ok. Nobody deserves to go through what he is going through, especially children of his age, so I try to do whatever I can do to help.

The fight with cancer really touches close to home because my mom passed away due to breast cancer in 2014. So in a small way, I can relate to what Sammy’s family has been going through. Right when I met Sammy and his family, we clicked and we’ve had a wonderful relationship that remains very special.”

Dan Colleran, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and golf programs. A native of Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men's hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Colleran also spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League and is a graduate of Providence College ('06 & '08G).